He pronounces "President Xi" or "Presidency"?

[kadioguy]

(At 7:04)

Which of the following do you think he pronounces?

(a) Thank you very much, President Xi, for welcoming me to Taiwan today.

(b) Thank you very much, Presidency, for welcoming me to Taiwan today.

 

[GoesStation]

Come on, kadioguy, what do you think he said? Would 'presidency make any sense?

It doesn't make sense, but that's actually what the speaker says. I guess he doesn't know how to pronounce "Xi".

 

[TheParser]

Which of the following do you think he pronounces?

NOT A TEACHER


1. My 83-year-old ears definitely heard "presidency."

2. He could not have said "Xi," for President Xi is the leader of the People's Republic of China (the mainland). Surely, he would have known that.

3. The lady is President Tsai, the leader of the Republic of China (Taiwan). (The word "People's" makes all the difference.)

4. I have no idea why Secretary Azar used the word "presidency." I can only guess that he thought that he was being very respectful in using that term.

*****

Is it possible that he mispronounced "Tsai"?

 

[emsr2d2]

I think he was having a stab at pronouncing "Xi" but it sounds as if he said "President Tzi" or "President Zee". Those can easily be mistaken for "presidency".

 

[TheParser]

I think he was having a stab at pronouncing "Xi" but it sounds as if he said "President Tzi" or "President Zee". Those can easily be mistaken for "presidency".

NOT A TEACHER



Yes, he may have been trying to say "President Tsai," but he mispronounced "Tsai," a difficult word for non-Chinese people to pronounce.

 

[Skrej]

According to this source, he simply botched his first attempt at 'Tsai', saying something closer to 'shee' instead of 'ts eye'. He gets it right a few moments later at about 7:37.

 

[Tdol]

But it doesn't strike me as fair to accuse him of confusing her with the president of mainland China. He doesn't call her by his name.

 

[PeterCW]

I clearly heard him say "tsee" rather than "Tsai", a simple mispronounciation to my ears. He did run the title and name together.